At 07:04 PM 1/27/01 +0100, Jeroen wrote:
>Because it says a lot about that government. How can you trust a government
>if they only do the right thing when they are forced to do it? The fact
>that environmental laws were passed only because of sheer pressure from the
>population shows that the government itself would happily let the
>environment go to hell.
Obviously, in Europe politicians do whatever they feel is right all of the
time. Only in America do outrageous things happen like politicians make
decisions based on what their constituents tell them. In Europe,
pro-environmental laws have absolutely nothing to do with popular pressure
from the Green Party, among other things.
>I assume that is because most of the election campaign funding comes from
>corporate donations, which means that politicians will do anything they
>can to keep those corporations happy.
This is incorrect. What you assume is that whichever politician raises
the most money will win. I know this comes as a shock to you Jeroen, but
in America we really do vote for our elected officials - even more shocking
is that Americans don't always vote for the candidate with the most
corporate money. For example, I worked in a Congressional Primary race
recently, with four candidates. One of the candidates spent $1 million
dollars of his own money. My candidate spent 1/10th of that amount. My
candidate scored 22% of the vote, and Mr. Millionaire scored all of 8% of
the vote.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ
#3527685
"Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today:
to make our country more just and generous; to affirm the dignity of
our lives and every life." - George W. Bush Inaugural Address 1/20/01
